FiLMiC Pro Brings Professional Cinematography To The iPhone

FiLMiC Pro ($2.99) by Cinegenix, LLC does for the iPhone’s camcorder what Camera+ does for the iPhone’s still-frame shutter.

It puts the power in the user’s hands, opening up windows of possibility as well as the full creative potential of the device itself. The app comes with enough fine-tune settings to please even the most demanding of directors, and with such a fluid interface, there’s no reason to leave FiLMiC Pro behind during a shoot.

FiLMiC Pro acts as a feature-rich HD video recorder for the iPhone. The app adds functionality to the stock iOS camcorder, including control over the exposure, focus, resolution, frame rate, and framing of each shot.

With three distinct shooting modes, FiLMiC Pro makes it easy to control a video’s focus, a feature previously lacking in the stock recorder. The app offers a full frame mode that samples the entire shot for exposure and focus, creating an easier point-and-shoot experience.

However, there’s also a single reticle mode that puts both focus and exposure in the middle of the frame, while dual reticle mode puts each wherever the user sets them.

FiLMiC Pro also sports various tools to make professional movie making easier. The app includes easy creation of color bars lasting up to fifteen seconds, as well as allowing for customized slates. For the trained director, both of these will come in handy, making it simple to line up secondary audio and specific frames.

The app even comes with framing guides that are overlaid right onto the shot. If you’re concerned about shooting in 16:9 with HD quality, just set the app to use the proper framing guide and high definition resolution.

All in all, FiLMiC Pro is perhaps the most powerful resource available for movie creation on the iPhone. The amount of control offered here makes the app the ideal utility for a director on the go. In fact, with such an impressive toolset, FiLMiC Pro could very easily become the focus of a whole new genre of cinema; short (or even full-length) films shot entirely with the iPhone.

Considering the app even allows for the selection of multiple audio and video codecs, it’s hard to find a missing link in FiLMiC Pro. Perhaps the only flaw is its complexity. There’s plenty of in-app documentation to get the user going, but without some knowledge of cinematography, newbies might become lost in multiple resolutions and slate customization.

I greatly appreciated the ability to upload my creations to various Internet services, including Facebook, YouTube, and (most importantly) Dropbox. This dramatically improves workflow where FiLMiC Pro is included, and makes it easy to integrate the app with existing workflows.

Offering a hefty amount of professional control, FiLMiC Pro is a must-have utility for the serious media professional and iDevice owner. The app is appropriately priced at $2.99 in the App Store, and is worth its weight in shooting gold.

Spend the three bucks and ditch the stock camcorder -- you’ll never miss it again, guaranteed.